Girls for Spiders [COMPLETED]

Chapter Four

Mia caught the oil lamp just before it shattered and held it to her chest. Skylar bent over her sister. "What happened?" Candles poked her through the hoodie.

Skylar offered her a hand and Mia pulled herself up. She wobbled on one foot. She touched her injured foot to the ground and yelped. "I twisted my ankle."

Skylar winced. "Put your arm around my shoulder." Mia slid her arm around Skylar. The two women staggered on three legs to the gate of the front yard. They stumbled past the juniper tree. The tire swing spun in the wind and sprayed raindrops.

Skylar deposited Mia in a chair at the dining room table. "I'll be right back." She ran out to the car and pulled out a cooler of food and beer. She slung a backpack of their clothes over her shoulder. Definitely a beer kind of night. She snorted and sucked water up her nose. She bent over, coughing.

This was a shitty situation. She elbowed past the gate in the front yard and left it open. Who was going to show up? John with the dogs? She set the cooler down on the soaked welcome mat and opened the front door.

Mia thumbed through Skylar's purse. Her shoulders hunched and her eyes squinted to see in the dimness. She held up a photo. Even in this gloom, I can recognize that picture. In it, Skylar embraced Vincent. She made out her own long brown hair and brown eyes.

Mia smirked. "Is this Vincent? He's hot." Yes, he was. Six foot four. Bald. Goatee. Muscles for days from chopping wood and hiking. Tight black tee-shirts. Tighter black jeans. No underwear. He was crazy, but he was hotter than a Bikram yoga retreat.

She set the cooler on the table and pulled out a beer. Sat down. She didn't light any candles yet. She wasn't up for that. The sisters lounged in the gloom.

The beer was warm. Skylar opened it anyway and slid another bottle across the table to Mia. "I know the trench coat is a cliche, but he was fascinating. I mean, he had a deep mind, you know? He was into... not exactly the occult, but mysticism you know? And he had this deep connection to nature." She took a swig of beer and winced. Mental note: this beer is not good warm. She peeled off her soggy hoodie and draped it on the back of an empty chair.

Mia slipped the photo back into Skylar's purse. "Why'd you end it? It must have been pretty bad, to give up on a man with a body like that. I mean, look at those abs. And didn't he make yummy hot fudge sundaes?"

Skylar moaned. She could almost taste the homemade whipped cream and toasted almonds. Her face fell. "The hot fudge sundaes were mind-boggling, it's true. What happened..." She paused. Peered up at Mia. "...it was his sister."

"What, did she not like you?" Mia sipped her beer and grimaced.

"Not exactly. Let me see that ankle." Skylar lifted Mia's foot and Mia yelped.

"Gentle!"

"Okay, okay." They got the ankle into Skylar's lap. In the dim light, it looked ugly--bruised and blotchy. "Can you wiggle your toes?" Mia's toes squirmed.

Skylar nodded. "I'm going to call this a sprain. Professional artist opinion." She kept Mia's leg in her lap. No sense moving it if she didn't have to. Every movement would hurt her sister. "No, his baby sister died." Mia gasped. I know exactly how much you can love a sister.

"What happened?"

Skylar drank more beer. "Spider bite." She drank more beer. Her head swam with memories. "He blamed me."

Mia sat up straight. "Wow, that's weird. Were you jealous of her? You put spiders in her bed?"

Skylar rolled the beer around on her tongue. "No, nothing like that. It's just that he was into doing these rituals, these guided meditations. His nature elemental is the spider."